2. Download the gateway.dg file specific to your region (In this case my region is U since I am in the US).

3. Now download the MD5 Checker via this post (posted by the mod lemanuel) so we can check the MD5 of the gateway.dg file.

4. Now open the MD5 Checker and Select the gateway.dg file by clicking add and navigating to where the file is located.

5. After selecting the gateway.dg file and opening it, you should see the MD5 Checker display the name of the file, where it's located and the MD5. Go ahead and go to where the MD5 is and right click. Then compare MD5. You can paste in the MD5 for the gateway.dg file you downloaded from Gateway's website. If the MD5's match we can move on to the next step, if they don't I suggest making sure you downloaded the right file and re-dowloading the file it self.

6. Now Backup your Nand to your Nintendo 3DS SDCard Via the Gateway launcher. You'll want to press a on "Backup System Nand" and "Start" to start the backup process. This will take about 5-15 minutes.

5. Once you finish backing up your NAND, exit the gateway launcher and turn off your 3DS. Eject your SD Card from your 3DS. Now put your SD Card into your computer and open it up so you can view the folders and files. Make a copy your NAND.bin and put it on a safe place on your computer. Leave your original NAND.bin on there for now, we'll need it to be able to do the downgrade. Put the Launcher.dat from the Gateway Ultra 3.0.1 files on your SD Card along with the gateway.dg file.

Note: The reason it shows up as Gateway EmuNand is I had formatted this SD Card for EmuNand. Doing a downgrade will not mess with your EmuNand. It also did not affect my save files.

6. Now make sure the LAUNCHER.dat, gateway.dg, and NAND.bin files are on your SD Card. Then eject it from the computer and put it back into the 3DS.

7. You will need a working internet connection set on your 3DS to do the next steps. Now boot your 3DS, open the web browser (found at the top of the bottom screen, a little blue world icon). Enter the URL go.gateway-3ds.com or prepare to open your bookmark and go to the go.gateway-3ds.com website. Turn your wireless communications on, go to the website and wait for the Gateway menu to boot. Then navigate to Downgrade Console at the end of the menu.

9. Allow Gateway program to do it's thing, this could take 5-10 minutes, maybe less. When you finish you should be taken to the shutdown screen as seen in the photo, except it'll say software has closed. From there go ahead and choose power off.

10. Now power on your 3DS. You should be back to one row like a normal 3DS fresh out of the box. BE SURE TO TURN OFF YOUR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS. Go ahead and head to System Settings and check your firmware.

If you on 4.x then CONGRATULATIONS YOU DOWNGRADED YOUR NINTENDO 3DS SUCCESSFULLY!!!! Give yourself a pat on the back. If you aren't on 4.x then chances are you 3DS was probably bricked (Will boot to a black screen perhaps and not boot into the normal 3DS Menu). Here I can be of no help, sorry.

You may be wondering what's next?
You can delete gateway.dg off you SD Card but leave the LAUNCHER.dat as you will need that.

You can follow the tutorial for installing the gateway exploit and everything at this maxconsole post.

Enjoy your newly downgraded 3DS!

EDIT: , a sticky! Thank You!

EDIT 2: If you're using the EUR gateway.dg binary blob, you SHOULD format sysnand after you've successfully downgraded. This is due to an update nag that seems to appear. YES this would unlink your sysnand from your emunand, and you may find this rather bothersome, but it should get rid of the update nag.

i also have a very simple md5 generator then i created for anyone who wants to use it all you do is click open browse for the file and it will generate the md5 value then you can click the value and it will copy it to your clipboard or you can just check to see if they match you can download it from my sig

Good job with the guide. I also hope you don't mind but just to help everyone (including those that like video guides better), I'll post this here too so that all the information is gathered in one place.

Good job with the guide. I also hope you don't mind but just to help everyone (including those that like video guides better), I'll post this here too so that all the information is gathered in one place.

Click to expand...

Thank you! I don't mind. I would have made a video too if I had the proper equipment to record and if I hadn't already downgraded my 3DS before lol.

Hmm... why does that matter? downgrading will only change the sysnand anyway. Are you afraid of losing any sysnand file stored in the SD card?

Click to expand...

No it's not that. The SD Card I used for this exploit yesterday is a 2GB. After setting it up for Emunand and downloading the game updates, I only have 400mb left. I was just wondering if I can use a different SD just to downgrade to 4.5. After that, I'll switch back the SD cards.

No it's not that. The SD Card I used for this exploit yesterday is a 2GB. After setting it up for Emunand and downloading the game updates, I only have 400mb left. I was just wondering if I can use a different SD just to downgrade to 4.5. After that, I'll switch back the SD cards.

Click to expand...

Oh... good question. Well.. can't answer that myself since I haven't tried anything yet with my own 3DS. Too busy answering questions. lol
Not that I really need it tho since mine is already 4.5

One reason, would be you would have something distinctively different to confirm whether the system is currently running from sysnand, or from emunand. Especially critical for when you go to perform the update, as you want to make sure you are updating emunand, not sysnand.

One reason, would be you would have something distinctively different to confirm whether the system is currently running from sysnand, or from emunand. Especially critical for when you go to perform the update, as you want to make sure you are updating emunand, not sysnand.

Click to expand...

that can be done with different themes or using different folders tho.

Could someone explain me what's the point in downgrading?
I mean it's cool and all but unless you downgrade from 9.4 to a supported version what's the point for downgrading?
After all Versions 4.x-9.2 work with gateway so why bother downgrading if your in this range
Can people use this to downgrade from 9.4 tho?

Could someone explain me what's the point in downgrading?
I mean it's cool and all but unless you downgrade from 9.4 to a supported version what's the point for downgrading?
After all Versions 4.x-9.2 work with gateway so why bother downgrading if your in this range
Can people use this to downgrade from 9.4 tho?

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